Colt National Match - ArniesAirsoft

Author

ChrisNorthInGer

The screams, they sound like music.

Registered: October 2006
Location: The outskirts of Reality.
Posts: 2,017

Review Date: 30/7/07

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �37.00 | Rating: 7

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Great value, threaded barrel, decent quality
Cons:	Fixed hop, slide lock problems, difficult to take apart

A brief introduction:

I bought a pair of the KWC National Matches mainly for two reasons. I began looking at them because they were cheap but said to be pretty decent guns, which made them a great option to buy two of for going akimbo, which was something that I wanted to try again. The reason I decided on the KWCs in the end was the threaded barrel they came with stock. I was going to get a PFI Smoke Cap suppressor with my this order, and I really wanted a "silenced" pistol. So I bought two from Redwolf, along with the silencer and a pair of extra mags.

For a bit on the real National Match, go here, or for information on the Colt 1911, see Modern Firearms' article here.

What's included:

The KWC Colt along with a small pack of BBs, a manual, and an external CO2 rig adapter comes packaged in a typical airsoft box, with a Styrofoam base and a thin cardboard lid to fit over it. However, unlike most airsoft gun boxes, the Colt box's lid has no pictures or artwork at all. It is completely white except for a small sticker on a side that has a black-and-white image of the gun with "1161 - H" to the right of it, and "MADE IN TAIWAN" below that. Something that I noticed when the lid was upside down, is that "1161 - H" looks like "H - 1911," which I thought was pretty cool.

The included small bag of BBs seem to be good enough to use, though I don't think that they would be of exceptional quality. The included adapter is for use with KWC's external CO2 rig, but I don't have one so I can't say anything on that. The manual has a bit of "engrish," but has pictures and is easy to understand. It also has a list of parts and a diagram. Scan of the parts list here

Build quality:

The KWC Colt feels fairly heavy, though not exceptionally so. Although there are lead weights behind the grips, the National Match doesn't feel exceptionally light without them. External Metal parts are the trigger, slide lock, outer barrel, hammer, grip safety, front and rear sight, mag catch, barrel bushing, spring housing, and the removable mag well lip. The magazine is also metal, although the bumper is plastic. The frame, grips, and slide are plastic. The metal and plastic feel a little brittle, and in most places the plastic is fairly thin. The hammer is a little bit thinner than I would have liked it to be (when viewed from the side, not the back).

The whole exterior of the pistol is smooth-looking, with absolutely no seams, or changes in the color anywhere (except the grips, which are glossy black, and the barrel, which is also a glossy black, but those are intentionally that way). Metal and plastic parts look exactly the same. There are zero trademarks, not even KWC put their name on this pistol. On the right side of the frame just below the slide and ahead of the trigger guard, there is a very small "MADE IN TAIWAN," and on the other side in the same spot the is what appears to be a serial number which seems to be unique because the two guns I have have the first 4 digits the same, but the last 4 are very different. There is also "CAL.45" on the chamber.

The barrel is has a clockwise thread for attachment of a suppressor or other accessory, and the Colt has no problem with a heavy suppressor. In fact, the KWC Colt seems to cycle better with some weight on the barrel. The barrel has a weird rough texture to it, which makes a scraping sound every time the slide is moved by hand, although after some wear it's not as loud. When the gun is fired and the slide is cycled automatically, you don't hear this noise.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g7/ChrisNorthInGer/Picture028.jpg

As mentioned, both the sights are metal, and both are dovetailed into the slide so they are removable (Note that I've not tried to mount real-steel sights, so I don't know if they will fit or not). The front sight has a white dot painted on. and the rear sight is only adjustable for elevation via a small slotted screw. The screw does not click into place, but it doesn't easily move out of position.

As mentioned before, the mag is mostly metal with a plastic bumper. Everything besides the bumper is metal, including the follower, feed lips, and the area around the rubber gas seal. The mag is quite a bit smaller width wise (if you're looking at it from the the left or right side) than my WE 1911 mag, oddly enough. I've never seen a real 1911 style mag in person, so I'm not sure which would be more realistic, but my bet would be on the WE. Even though the mags seem to be built well, they only cost $13USD each when purchased from Redwolf, which is a plus for anyone who likes to load mags to real capacity, and no worse for those that don't. You can also buy the KWC "Caspian" style mags, which don't have the bumper, however they are harder to get in with the mag well lip on.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g7/ChrisNorthInGer/Picture023.jpg

Performance:

Without access to a chronograph, I can only give a rough estimate of muzzle velocity using the "Coke can chrono" and comparing it to some other guns. Using those methods, the KWC National Match seems to shoot about 330 FPS with propane and .20g BBs at room temperature, which is consistent with what Redwolf says.

Using KSC .20gs on a calm day BBs will usually fly out to about 110 feet consistently, but at around 100-105 feet they curve to the left or right a bit and start to fall. Until that point, shots stay straight and on target. However I've also noticed when gas is low or cold, BBs fall 10 feet sooner than usual.

Blowback is not exceptionally strong, but not what I would call light either. The gun doesn't really move at all in your hand, but you can feel something happening through your wrist. The slide moves backwards really quickly, but is a little slow on the return, however it doesn't cycle abnormally slowly or quickly.

The Magazine can hold 13 BBs, although it is possible to squeeze 14 in but this is probably really bad for both the loading nozzle and the magazine's spring, so I haven't been doing it. Using .20g BBs and propane in an 77F temperature environment, I've been able to get 33 full shots off with the last one shooting the BB but not moving the slide. With the exception of the last shot, the slide always moved as far back as it could go before returning. Despite efficiency the KWC's mag cools down a little faster than I would have expected, as the mag is very cold after rapidly firing off a full mag's worth of BBs.

The trigger pull is really heavy, and more than once I've checked the safety to see if it was on when the hammer didn't fall even though I was pulling the trigger. It isn't too awful to pull back, but it is considerably heavier feeling than any other GBB I've used.

The thumb safety is ambidextrous and is easy to put on or take off, and can be activated even if the gun isn't cocked. The grip safety does move, however it does not act as a safety (as in you can pull the trigger even if the grip safety is not squeezed), which may be unfortunate for some but I've never personally never cared much for grip safeties. The hammer does not have a half cock safety, however it can lock in a position before fully cocked, though the trigger can still be pulled and the hammer will fall. If a mag is inserted and you try to decock the gun, the valve knocker will rest on the mag valve before reaching the half cock and any bump to the hammer will cause the gun to go off, so there is little point in it.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g7/ChrisNorthInGer/Picture012.jpg

I've had trouble with the slide catch not engaging on the last shot. It seems to have more to do with the mag spring not pushing it up on the last shot more than the slide not moving back far enough to engage it. I've put four BBs underneath the mag's spring to act as a spacer, and so far all the unreliable lock-back issues seem to be solved. You also can't use the "slingshot method" (puling the slide back a bit to disengage the slide catch) for some reason, so you need to press the catch down, which will probably wear the slide catch notch faster.

Click here for a video of the KWC National Match firing.

A closer look:

The KWC 1911 has quite a few oddities that I haven't seen before. Most noticeable is the one-piece barrel and recoil rod assembly. I'm not sure what the point to this is, but so far the only problem I have with it is that it makes removing the barrel a bit of a pain. The blowback unit must be pried out of the slide before the barrel can be lifted out.

The slide catch is also different. It does not need to be inserted or taken out through the disassembly notch, and instead of being held in by the slide, it is held in with a little rubber ring on the inside of the barrel assembly. I'm not particularly worried, but after removing the slide catch many times, the ring might wear or break and not hold the catch.

The safety is also a bit different. Instead of using the little bar and spring (plunger?) to press on the safety on the left side oof the pistol, it has a small ball bearing that hides under the right grip. This makes fitting other safeties pretty much impossible.

The magazine is a lot different from other guns that I've seen. The top valve isn't assembled and doesn't screw in to the mag. Instead it has a plate that slides over th3e valve parts, and a screw that holds the plate on. I've had some problems with the valve leaking after they were dropped, but besides that the valve has no other problems and I quite like needing only one hex wrench instead of a special tool to remove the valve.

The blowback mech isn't the "pre-shoot" type (as on most Marui or KSC guns today). There's nothing wrong or different with it, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Problems:

I haven't had any big problems with the National Match yet. A few small ones that had easy fixes.

Firstly, the hop was a bit odd, and inconsistent. The gas system doesn't help much, but I've found cleaning the hop and using .25gs instead of .20gs a big helps.

As mentioned, the mag didn't lock back as often as it should have. I took the bottom of the mag off and put four (I put four because it looked liked it would increase the spring's force on the follower enough, and in the Hitman games the Hardballers hold 9 rounds) and haven't had a problem since.

Also as mentioned, after I dropped both of the mags the valve began to leak. A little bit of lithium grease on the rubber rings seems to be working well.

Not really a problem as much as an annoyance; the bumper is a bit thick (or tall if the mag is vertical) and propane escaping during filling seems to stay liquid and run over the base. Not only is this bad for my fingers, it also makes telling if the mag is full a little difficult. You could take the bumper off, though there is a small bit of metal that the screw threads onto that will stick out (then again you can take it off while filling and put it back on when you're done, if you're really that crazy). There's also the "Caspian" style mags if you're not man enough to suck it up. :D

After about 3000 or so rounds, I started getting double feeds every other shot, which is obviously a serious problem. I'm not 100% sure of a permanent fix, but I only get the double feeds when using propane on a hot day. If I don't allow the mag to warm after a filling, the gun doesn't double feed, so using 134a might help. What I've tried recently is to stretch the recoil spring, which seems to have cured the problem, at least temporarily.
Update: It seems the BB spacer in the mag is the cause of the double feeds. I'm seeing if fewer spacers will help the slide catch lock more often without causing double feeding problems. The recoil spring stretching didn't seem to help a whole lot, either.
Update 2: Even after removing all of the BB spacers, the gun still double fed, though much less often.

Conclusion:

I wasn't as pleased with the KWC as I thought I would be, possibly because it was just another GBB with nothing really special about it besides its price, or because the dual guns thing didn't turn out well for me. In either case, my slight disappointment has more to do with me than the gun, and really doesn't reflect on how good a value the KWC Colt National Match is. If some one wanted a low cost yet decent 1911 variant, I would definitely recommend the KWC Colt, but not before suggesting a TM or WE for ease of sourcing replacement parts and upgrades (even though both the TM and WE cost considerably more than the KWC).

As with any review I've written on Arnies, if you've found a problem, have a comment, or wish to ask a question, PM my Arnies Airsoft user account.

------------------------------
For Sale:

Maruzen Skorpion GBB